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Faith Communities: Mormons are weathering the Southern storms

Savannah Morning News

The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. September Cardiff kisses her son Tazman, 6, after playing games during Family Home Evening. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. September, Tazman, 6, and Cayman, 13, right, play games during Family Home Evening. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. The Cardiffs, including September, left, Tazman, 6, center, and Cayman, 13, right, enjoy a treat at the end of Family Home Evening. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

September places a straw hat on 6-year-old Tazman's head to dress up the lesson during their Family Home Evening. The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

Savannah Morning News

The Mormons' emphasis on family is evident in a program called Family Home Evening, which is a standard in the Cardiff home. The Cardiff's, including Tazman, 6, center, play games during Family Home Evening. (Hunter McRae/Savannah Morning News)

DeLee Brown shakes her head at the idea of being called "unChristian."

Most recently, it happened last Christmas when Brown and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered their help to a local Christian social service agency and were turned away.

It happened once when Brown was invited to sing at a South Carolina Baptist church and was later escorted out when the pastor learned of her religion.

"I remember going, 'Why? What's wrong?" Brown said of the experience that happened when she was 13 years old. "I had never thought I would be considered not Christian. My belief and my faith in Jesus Christ is such a center of my life."

Click Here for a slideshow and audio of local Mormons talking about their faith.

About 4,400 area members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or "Mormons," follow a faith that is practiced in much the same way as other Christian streams: through prayer, scripture study and regular attendance at church on Sundays and other special occasions.

Mormons dress and live like their neighbors and coworkers. Only their 20-something, white-collar "missionaries," who travel in pairs by bicycle are distinguishable as they spread their door-to-door evangelism.

Worldwide, the religion is growing.

But, in Savannah and through many parts of the South, the faith has long struggled to gain a foothold.

Brown, who was raised in a military family, once associated the South with anti-Mormonism. But that's beginning to change. In the six years she's lived in Savannah, she has learned something from her "born-again" Christian neighbors.

"What I've learned in Savannah is to not be afraid to say that I'm a Christian and to ask people "Do you have a church to go to?" she said. "Savannahians are a good example of good Christian service. I'm going to try to do that more often."

Mormon heritage

While the Latter-day Saints make up a small population in the region and the state, their history is long and storied.

Shortly after LDS founder and "prophet" Joseph Smith began spreading news of his divinely inspired "The Book of Mormon" in the 1830s, some of the first missionaries began seeking out converts in Georgia.

Their efforts, which at times led to family rifts, met with hostility. LDS families were typically ostracized by their neighbors, according to Brigham Young University professors David F. Boone and David Buice in the Encyclopedia of Religion in the South.

In a June 12, 1879, letter to Gov. Alfred H. Colquitt, 23-year-old missionary Joseph Standing appealed for help in stopping an anti-Mormon mob in north Georgia led by Methodist and Baptist ministers.

"I have recently received letters from several members of our denomination at Varnell's Station, Whitfield County, informing me that elders of my profession have been obliged at times to flee for their lives, as armed men to the number of 40 or 50 have come out against them," Standing wrote.

A month later, Standing was fatally shot in a stand-off against the mob, making him the first of eight men "martyred" in the Southern states before the turn of the century, according to church historians.

While such violence against Mormons never reached Savannah, one early missionary found it a difficult place to spread the faith.

Missionary I.W. Clagg spent several months in Savannah ministering to about 16 Mormons and proselytizing, according to a 1901 article in the Savannah Morning News. He eventually left when the city council denied his request to sell Mormon literature without a license.

Clagg also told the newspaper the church had begun withdrawing missionaries from the South to focus on evangelism in foreign countries.

Meanwhile that year, Julia Mozell Love became the first baptized LDS member in Savannah.

In 1913, a couple named Arthur B. and Annie Laura Davis moved to a home at either 938 or 942 Wheaton St., where they began holding church meetings. Out-of-town missionaries who visited the couple were regularly picked up by police and jailed, church records state. The Davises always bailed them out.

By 1922, membership had only grown to 11. Still the group managed to raise enough money to purchase a lot at 1325 E. 31st St., and build their first chapel by 1929.

In 1961, the congregation completed construction on its current church, or "meeting house," located at 613 Montgomery Crossroad. Another meeting house was built in Georgetown in 1985 which now serves as the center of the stake.

Members today are a mix of native Savannahians, transplants from the West and military families.

Bearing testimony

When Noma Cardiff, 66, joined the LDS church at age 14, membership totaled 1.5 million globally.

Today, there are 13 million. Globally, the LDS faith is growing by about 1 million members every three years, according to church statistics.

It's a sign that the church is becoming more attractive, Cardiff said Tuesday while visiting her son's family in Richmond Hill.

Son Tom Cardiff believes the Mormons have received more positive attention from the media in recent years. He credits the late church president Gordon B. Hinkley for doing more to explain the faith to secular media and nonbelievers.

"I think the church is more open today. It used to appear more clannish," he said.

Recent news of a Texas polygamist sect, a radical offshoot of the LDS church, has inspired some questions about polygamy from friends and coworkers, Cardiff said. But for the most part, the public is learning that the church banned polygamy more than a century ago.

Some area Mormons also credit politician Mitt Romney's bid for the presidency for giving Americans a positive, modern impression of Mormonism.

But Tom and his wife September believe one of the main reasons the church is attracting new members is because of its emphasis on the family unit.

The national church encourages all LDS families to host a weekly "Family Home Evening," a gathering of the nuclear family that includes songs, scripture lessons, announcements, games and snacks.

Part of the Cardiffs' gathering this week focused on weathering the "storms of life."

Seated under a painting of Jesus and another of the Salt Lake Temple, the religion's spiritual home, September Cardiff distributed tropical hats and leis to make the lesson fun.

"When we were sent here, we were sent on a voyage, a cruise," the mother said.

Daily prayer as individuals and as families, reading scripture and living according to the church's rules and expectations can result in eternal life in heaven with your entire family, she said.

"I know if we can bear the storm of life, then we can make it there together."

For 13-year-old, Cayman, the third of the Cardiffs' four sons, those storms sometimes translate into questions and strange accusations from his private school classmates.

Students have asked him how many moms he has or if Mormons worship spiders. Tom Cardiff said acquaintances have asked if he had "666" written on his body or if he had horns.

"They were only half-joking," he said.

But Cayman Cardiff said he appreciates the questions, which give him an opportunity to share his faith.

"I love bearing my testimony," he said. "I feel I have something special that I need to tell people."

Check Accent the first Saturday of each month for "Faith Communities,'' as religion reporter Dana Clark Felty explores religious diversity in the Savannah area. To learn more about the groups in this series or to weigh in with your opinions on religion, beliefs and values, go to savannahnow.com/features/faithforward.

God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Starting with founder Joseph Smith, the president of the church is considered God's prophet on earth today. The highest church leaders in Salt Lake City, under the president, also are considered prophets, seers and revelators.

Lifestyle

Mormons typically dress in modern, yet modest, clothing. Sunday clothing for men and everyday clothing for missionaries includes business formal attire, usually dark slacks, white shirts, a tie and a dark jacket. Women are expected to dress modestly and wear skirts or dresses to church on Sunday.

Young men are expected to participate in Boy Scouts and, after graduating from high school, to spend two years serving as a missionary where ever they are assigned by the national church.

Beliefs: What happens when people die?

Everyone goes to a "spirit world," where followers of Jesus will be at peace and those who chose not to follow Jesus and do not repent while there will be unhappy. Those never exposed to Jesus will have an opportunity to learn about Him and repent in the spirit world. Eventually, everyone's spirit will reunite with their physical bodies. Those following Jesus' teachings will live with God and with their families. Family members can be together forever through "sealing ordinances" performed in the church temples.

Those who choose not to follow God and Jesus Christ will receive a reward according to what they have done in life, but they will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God, which is considered "hell."

How the faith began

The church teaches that shortly after Jesus' death, his apostles were killed and the original meaning of His message was lost. In turn, God took from earth "the keys to direct and receive revelation for the Church," resulting in nearly 1,800 years of confusion, conflicting teachings and the formation of many churches.

Not until 1820 did God and Jesus Christ reveal this information to founder Joseph Smith and the true church was eventually restored on earth.

Religious texts

Adherents regard the Bible - both the Old Testament and the New Testament - as God's word as well as The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ as a record of Christ's dealings with and appearance to people living in America around 590 B.C. to 421 A.D. Founder Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by divine inspiration from gold plates he received from an angel named Moroni. The book is named after Mormon, an ancient prophet believed to have compiled the record.